Electronic auditory and/or visual input/output systems and components such as musical controllers for MIDI compatible equipment, electronic tap dancing shoes, and the use of touch-screen interfaces for the remote control of electronics are well known in today's digital world. Musical or MIDI controllers are the hardware interface for the control of digital musical instruments. MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is an industry standard data protocol for digital instruments established in the 1980's that remains in use to the present day. A musical keyboard is most typically used to “control” sound banks or synthesizers that are wired to the controller with MIDI cables. Percussive MIDI controllers, such as the Roland Corporation's OCTAPAD®, contain large rubber pads that when hit, trigger digital samples. MIDI controllers may also contain sliders, knobs or buttons that control recording of MIDI music. Novation's Launchpad uses buttons to act as switches for recording, or as drum pads for performing music.
Alternative MIDI musical controllers produced and marketed in the past have included breath controllers offered by Yamaha as optional accessories for their line of keyboard synthesizers produced in the 1980s (the DX7, DX11, CS01, and others). These breath controllers allowed the use of breath pressure to have the synthesizer send corresponding MIDI continuous control messages to modify the sound output. In the wake Yamaha's controller, other manufacturers have made and offered breath controllers that are free-standing and allow the user to add breath control of MIDI continuous controller messages to instruments lacking that control as a built-in feature. For example the TEControl USB MIDI Breath Controller can be used with a wide range of MIDI compatible musical equipment or computer software that accepts MIDI messages.
Previous inventors have tried to develop electronic tap-dance shoes that use pressure sensors or other means to detect a dancer's activity and then send corresponding MIDI notes, either through cables or wirelessly. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,300 entitled Shoe Activated Sound Synthesizer Device is directed to a shoe activated sound synthesizer device that enables movement of a shoe to be translated into audible sounds. The sound synthesizer device consists of a shoe in which there is disposed at least one trigger element capable of producing a trigger signal when the shoe is flexed to a predetermined degree. As the shoe is worn and is brought into contact with the floor, the shoe is flexed. By bringing different parts of the shoe into contact with the floor in a controlled manner, a person can selectively control the production of trigger signals from any trigger element contained within the shoe. A sound synthesizer circuit is provided that is coupled to each trigger element contained within the shoe. The sound synthesizer circuit produces an audible sound, via a speaker, when a trigger signal is received from the shoe. Pressure sensors have also been embedded in floors or floor-mounted surfaces and used as arcade or home game controllers: examples include Nintendo's Wii Fit Balance Board and Konami's Dance Dance Revolution. The Nike+ FUELBAND® is a device that tracks a user's movement and activity in order to track progress in fitness training. The Nike+ sensor may transmit a data packet to a receiver directly attached to a mobile device.
Additionally, wireless remote control of electronics hardware through an application on a mobile device or tablet computer is an expanding field. One example is the GoPro App, which allows a user full remote control over a GoPro camera's functions and record button, as well as providing a useful preview image of what the camera is photographing, if for example it is attached to the top of a helmet deeming the viewfinder not visible.
While the above prior art provides examples of signal generation through physical movement, there remains a need for a system and method which allows the manipulation of the response signals in real-time. The present invention addresses this, and other, needs in the art.